Cornwall travel diary: deserted beaches, crazy cows and the Lost Gardens of Heligan

On the first day of our Cornwall road trip with Bumble Campers we arrived at about 4pm after driving the van around some horrendous little tiny streets in Mevagissey. We dumped the van and set off to explore the surrounding area. We were staying at YHA Boswinger, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere, but there is a little beach nearby.

The beach was deserted as the weather wasn’t great, so we spent a while just exploring and dipping our toes in the sea, before heading back to the van. We had to head home through a field and, as we had been on the beach, a herd of cows had moved into the field. When we climbed over the wall, one of the cows locked us in its sights and then started to charge towards us. I was literally terrified and my boyfriend shouted at me to run. So I ran as fast as I could in my Havaianas and dragged Alfie along with me. After we left the field, we could not stop laughing and we were totally ready for a gin.

As we were staying at a hostel, we had use of the self-catering facilities and we were travelling on a budget, so we cooked stir-fry at the hostel and had a few drinks sitting outside the van while we planned the adventures for the next day.

We woke up early the next morning, ready for our trip to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. After our cooked breakfast (again, making excellent use of the self-catering kitchen!), we set off. The gardens were literally lost with the beginning of the First World War in 1914 before being discovered again in 1990 when restoration of the gardens began. The gardens are some of the most popular botanical gardens in the UK and it’s not difficult to see why – there is so much to see! As well as the gardens, there are also some animals, including some gorgeous little piglets.

We treated ourselves to a Cornish cream tea (that’s the jam first and then the cream on top!) in the cafe. The Lost Gardens of Heligan are dog-friendly, so we could take Alfie everywhere with us, which was great.

Later that afternoon we visited the fishing village of Mevagissey which has a little working harbour, a maze of narrow streets, and an abundance of cosy pubs and delicious seafood restaurants. We had a Cornish Rattler in the pub while Alfie had a nap, before we headed back to cook dinner and relax in the camper van – a perfect day in Cornwall!

2 Responses

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[…] is that they have self-catering kitchens and so you can bring all your own food (we loved self-catering in Cornwall earlier this year), and this one was no exception. The self-catering kitchen was well equipped and […]

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